The
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is an auto racing
circuit near the Italian
town of
Imola
, east of Bologna
and east of
the Ferrari
factory in
Maranello
.
The
circuit is named after Ferrari's late
founder Enzo and his son Dino who had died in the 1950s.
Before Enzo Ferrari's death in 1988 it was called
Autodromo
Dino Ferrari.
It was the
venue for the Formula One San Marino Grand
Prix
(for many years two Grands Prix were held in Italy
every year, so the race held at Imola was named after the nearby
state) and it also hosted the 1980
edition of the Italian Grand
Prix
, which usually takes place in Monza
. When Formula One visits Imola, it is seen
as the 'home circuit' of
Ferrari
and masses of
tifosi (Ferrari
supporters) come out to support the local team.
Imola, as it is colloquially known, is one of the
few major international circuits to run in an anti-clockwise
direction.
(Istanbul Racing Circuit
, Singapore's Marina
Bay and Autódromo José Carlos Pace
at Interlagos
, Brazil are other counter-clockwise circuits used
recently by Formula One.)
Tamburello curve
Despite the addition of the chicanes, the circuit was subject to
constant safety concerns, mostly regarding the flat-out
Tamburello corner, which was very bumpy and had
dangerously little room between the track and a concrete wall which
protects a creek that runs behind it. In
1987,
Nelson Piquet had an accident there during
practice and missed the race due to injury. In the
1989 San Marino Grand Prix,
Gerhard Berger crashed his
Ferrari at Tamburello after a front wing
failure. The car caught fire after the heavy impact, which in fact
split the monocoque, but thanks to the quick work of the
firefighters and medical personnel Berger survived and missed only
one race (the
1989 Monaco Grand
Prix) because of burns on his hands.
Michele Alboreto also had a fiery accident
at the Tamburello corner testing his Footwork Arrows at the circuit
in 1991, but also escaped any injury whatsoever.
Riccardo Patrese also had an accident at
the Tamburello corner in 1992 while testing for the Williams
team.
The old pitlane
In the
1994 San Marino Grand
Prix, the dangers of the Imola circuit, and of Formula One in
general, became tragically apparent. During Friday practice
Rubens Barrichello was launched
over a kerb, and into the top of a tyre barrier, flipping the car
and knocking the Brazilian unconscious. He was not seriously
injured. During Saturday qualifying Austrian
Roland Ratzenberger crashed head-on into
a wall at the Villeneuve corner after a front wing failure, and was
injured severely. He succumbed to his injuries an hour later. The
nightmare continued the next day, when the legendary 3-time World
Champion
Ayrton Senna went straight on
at the Tamburello corner on Lap 7. He may not have been badly
injured by the impact with the wall itself, but a suspension piece
broke off in the accident, and the front-right wheel was catapulted
at an immense speed onto Senna's helmet and
killed him. In two unrelated
incidents, several spectators and mechanics were also injured
during the event.
Diagram showing the differences
between the 1994 and 2006 circuit layouts
In response to the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna, revisions were
made in an attempt to make the circuit safer. The flat-out
Tamburello corner was reduced to a 4th gear left-right sweeper, and
a gravel trap was added to the limited space on the outside of the
corner. Villeneuve corner, previously an innocuous 6th gear
right-hander into Tosa, was made a complementary 4th gear sweeper,
also with a gravel trap on the outside of the corner. In an attempt
to retain some of the quickness and character of the old circuit,
the arduous chicane at Acqua Minerale was eliminated, as was the
corner at which Barrichello crashed. Many say that the new circuit
configuration is not as good as it used to be as a result of the
new chicanes at Tamburello and Villeneuve.
Some are
also critical of the circuit's deteriorating facilities, and there
had long been talk of the San Marino Grand Prix being taken off the Formula One calendar. In
2007 it was not on the Formula One calendar.
Another modification made to the Imola track is that of the famous
Variante Alta which is situated at the top of the hill leading down
to Rivazza and has the hardest braking point on the lap. The
Variante Alta, formerly a high-kerbed chicane, was hit quite hard
by the drivers which caused damage to the cars and occasionally was
the site of quite a few accidents. Before the 2006 Grand Prix, the
kerbs were lowered considerably and the turn itself was tightened
to reduce speeds and hopefully reduce the number of accidents at
the chicane.
Recent developments
Following an FIA decision in August 2006, Imola did not host a
Grand Prix in the
2007, as
the San Marino race was removed from the calendar. SAGIS, the
company that owns the circuit, hoped that the race would be
reinstated at the October 2006 meeting of the FIA
World Motorsport Council and
scheduled for the weekend of
April 29,
2007, provided that renovations to the facility
were completed in time for the race, but the reinstatement was
denied.
Imola at March 2007
The circuit has undergone serious revisions to the pitlane, pit
garages and the final corners. The final left-right
chicane has been removed, thus making the run from
Rivazza 2 to the first Tamburello chicane totally flat-out, much
like the circuit in its original fast-flowing days. The pitlane has
been being extended and revamped, and the old pit garages and
paddock has been knocked down and a completely new set rebuilt. The
circuit hopes to rejoin the F1 calendar in the next few seasons.
The reconstruction has been designed by German track architect
Hermann Tilke.
The new pitbox in Imola, photo taken
on 15/4/2008
In June 2008, with most of the reconstruction work done,
FIA gave the track "1T" rating, meaning that official F1
test can be held there. But still the track needs the "1"
homologation to again host a Formula One race. The track also
hosted the
2008 WTCC Race of
Europe, on September 21, 2008.
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